News

Necessity of record-keeping in your practice

Published 27 May 2021

 

When operating a private practice, it is essential that employers who engage employees under the Fair Work regime:

  • make and keep accurate and complete records for all of their employees; and
  • issue pay slips to each employee.

These obligations are intended to ensure employees receive their correct wages and entitlements, as per the respective Award.

Record-keeping obligations

To ensure your employee records are correct and accurate, the records must:

  • be in a format that is readily accessible to a Fair Work inspector;
  • be in a legible format and in English; 
  • be kept on file for seven years;
  • not be altered unless for the purposes of correcting an error; and
  • not be false or misleading to the employer’s knowledge.

It is important to note that all employee records are private and confidential. Only the relevant employee, their employer, and respective payroll staff are permitted to access the employee records. If an employee, or former employee, requests to access their employee records, the employer must make a copy of the records.

However, this comes with the exception of the Fair Work Inspectors and organisation officials, who may need to view employee records on the basis of a contravention of relevant Commonwealth workplace laws.

What needs to be included in employee records?

As prescribed by the Fair Work Act 2009 and Fair Work Regulations 2009, the following information must be made and kept in each employee record.

General records must include:

  • the employer’s name;
  • the employer’s Australian Business Number (ABN) (if any);
  • the employee’s name;
  • the employee’s commencement date; and
  • the basis of the employee’s employment (full or part-time and permanent, temporary or casual).

Pay records must include:

  • the rate of pay paid to the employee; 
  • the gross and net amounts paid and any deductions from the gross amount; and
  • the details of any incentive-based payment, bonus, loading, penalty rate, or other monetary allowance or separately identifiable entitlement paid.

Leave records must include:

  • leave taken, if any; and
  • the balance of the employee’s entitlement to that leave from time to time.

There are requirements in terms of leave records specific to modern awards but we will deal with these in subsequent Award Subscription Service Newsletters.

Hours of work records must include:

  • any penalty rates or loadings paid to employees for overtime hours worked, including:
    • the number of overtime hours worked by an employee during the day; and
    • when the employee started and finished the overtime hours
  • the hours an employee works if the employee is a casual or irregular part-time employee who is paid based on time worked; and
  • a copy of the written agreement if an employer and employee have agreed to an averaging of the employee’s work hours. 

Superannuation contributions records should include the:

  • amount of the contributions made; 
  • dates on which each contribution was made;
  • period over which the contributions were made;
  • the name of any fund to which a contribution was made; and
  • the basis on which the employer became liable to make the contribution, including a record of any election made by the employee (including the date) to have their superannuation contributions paid into a particular fund.

Termination records should include:

  • whether the employment was terminated by consent, by notice, summarily, or in some other manner (specifying the manner); 
  • if notice was provided and, if so, how much; and
  • the name of the person who terminated the employment.

If you have any concern regarding the record-keeping in your practice, please contact our Workplace Relations Team on (07) 3872 2222 or at workplacerelations@amaq.com.au. We are happy to provide you with guidance and advice to ensure you remain compliant.